Almost every country has been investing in electronic passports for years in order to make international travel safer. Using RFID technology makes it possible to read data wirelessly and to increase counterfeit protection.

This is why many countries are currently trying to define standards for future ID documents. According to PAV Card’s and rfid ready’s survey “ID Doument Monitor 2013” RFID will most likely play an important role in this.

More than 90 percent of the survey participants have identified contactless technology as the most important security feature for ID documents in the next five years, followed by digital signature (79 percent) and special materials (66 percent) like polycarbonate.

In contrast to this the integration of LCD displays in ID documents to start a 3D video seems less interesting (20 percent). In total, 381 took part in the survey. The opinions of the participants rely on the experiences with their own documents. More than 90 percent of the respondents answered that they are owners of a contactless ID document like an ePassport. The majority (74 percent) feels secure with their document. Participants require their documents to be based on RFID technology (89 percent) and to have the following security elements: tactile features (79 percent), multi-coloured guilloches (77 percent), micro script (74 percent) and holograms (73 percent).

With regard to the new European driver’s licence the desire for more technical features seems to be growing. Most of the cards are not based on RFID technology. More than the half of the participants would appreciate these documents to go contactless in the future. 60 percent of them think that the RFID surface would reduce the number of forgeries. Moreover, the driver’s licence could be used for other applications. More than 80 percent answered that they would use it in their daily life. Popular fields of applications: Access control (80 percent), followed by public transport (78 percent) and library services (34 percent). Less than one tenth would use an official ID document for services at public authorities.